An architectural frame of red columns, green capitals, and pink caryatids on green bases encloses the central scene. An inscription plate appears above. In the upper left-hand corner, a miller carries grain to a mill. On the right, a miller rides on horseback with a bag of grain or flour across the saddle. The central scene shows a woman on the left who holds an elaborate stemmed cup in her upraised right arm. On her right, a rider on a prancing horse holds a banner. In the green background is a blue lake, while in the distance there is a town in purple. Below; two putti flank an elaborate inscription cartouche at whose center is a coat of arms surrounded by a wreath.

Considerable corrosion and paint loss as well as mending leads have mitigated the legibility of the panel. The right side of the inscription panel is replacement as well as elements in the upper right, lower left, and a segment of the architecture to the left. The grotesque caryatid on the right may also be a replacement. The left side of the lower medallion is missing.

Jakob Müller married Anna Ehrensperger from the “Rietmühle” in Dinhard, January 26, 1657 in Elgg (Staatsarchiv Zürich E III 33.2 EDB 440 Tauf- Ehe- und Totenregister Elgg [1584–1657]; information provided by Uta Bergmann; second alliance not found). Elgg is a rural municipality directly east of Winterthur. Dinhard is to the north of Winterthur.
This is a traditional welcoming scene but given an usual twist in that it depicts a husband mounted on the right. The wife wears a white cap, blue blouse, yellow apron, and red skirt with green bands. The husband’s elaborate hat with feather and his sash and sword depict him in celebration, not war. His standard shows a mounted knight slaying a green dragon. This is St. George and the Dragon, the emblem of the city of Elgg whose parish church, before the Reformation, had been dedication to St. George. Clearly this is the scenes of a prosperous miller proudly displaying the importance of his trade in the narrative scenes at the top of the panel. He presents himself, however, as performing the office of standard-bearer, carrying the town’s banner, depicting St. George who, like Müller is mounted on a horse.

The artist is following folk painting practices, emphasizing frequent variation in colors over the surface. For example, Müller’s horse is decked out with red hangings ending in green tassels; he has a red shirt, blue sash, red leggings, and a black hat with red plumes. The sketchy, energetic style of the panel is typical of painting at this time. We see the brush as the primary means of defining the imagery, adding swaths of shadow and thin and thick trace over washes. Unlike the earlier single panel, where the predominant drafting techniques echoed those of engraving, here the painter is inspired by the drawing technique of watercolor. Stick work appears sparingly, for example in the pleated ruffle at the wife’s neck. The areas of the wife’s shield and architectural frame of the cartouche at the bottom, however, are created with a flat wash sculpted with stick work.

The panel can be compared to a work by Jakob Weber I, father of Jakob Weber II. A Memento Mori panel dated about 1630 shows similarities (London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 9060-1863; VAM_7). We see similar conventions in the design of a heavy, colorful frame, emphasis on enamel painting rather than pot metal colors, and drafting conventions. The style is eclectic; the artist selects a rather homey model for the central figures, the horse is like a carved toy set against the bright blue and green landscape. The caryatids at the sides, however, evoke mannerist models; they are river gods, crowned with spiky leaves, with long profiles and bodies jammed into narrow spaces. The putti, likewise, show exaggerated postures and undulating contours of limbs.

Cited in:
Garland sale, 1924, no. 330.
LACMA Quarterly, 1945, pp. 5–10.
Normile, 1946, pp. 43–44.
Hayward, 1989, p.81.
Raguin, 2024, vol. 1, pp. 260–63.